Letters to the Editor
Mike_in_New_Mexico
Published Letters: 101 Editor's Choice: 7
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Lynx
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, I read this column regularly. In my opinion, Mr. Smith is too easy on the airlines. He constantly tries to defend their policies and is against any federal regulation of them. For example, after the incident where a plane full of passengers spent something like 10 hours on the tarmac, he said that calls for regulating the amount of time such things could be allowed to go on were unnecessary.
Do you read his columns? Do you read between the lines? The idea that an airline pilot who has apparently had some trouble staying employed would write an unbiased column about his employers is ridiculous.
The only columns that Mr Smith writes that I enjoy are the ones about piloting an aircraft, they are very interesting.
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lynx
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What Mr. Smith was saying about the 10 hours on the tarmac was that no matter how inexcusable it was, congress shouldn't pass regulations prohibiting such actions. If you read the letters section for that article, you can read my response to that column. Basically, I said that the first time we put airline staff in jail for locking passengers in a plane for 10 hours, it would never happen again. Mr. Smith seems to think that the airlines will just self regulate themselves, when time and time again they just screw their captive audience. When Smith calls for the complete re-regulation of the airlines, I'll cut him some slack. I'm not holding my breath.
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you are not being selfish
[Read the article: Why wouldn't a 16-year-old boy want to live on a houseboat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dear LW,
You are the adult. You pay the bills. You get to live where you want. Tell your son that when he is able to pay his own way, then he can live where he wants.
Why do we think that our children should control our lives? Why should you give up your dream just because your 16 year old is being a whiny brat of a teenager?
Further, I do think that its important that children learn that they are not going to get everything they want in this life. Teenagers think that the entire world revolves around them. The sooner they learn that this is not true, the sooner they will be ready for the real world. They also need to learn that what others think of them (their friends who all live in the subdivision, for example) doesn't matter too much.
The only exception I would make is if this child is in some way not a "normal" teenager. You mentioned that he was adopted. Sometimes adopted children have had pretty tough lives. If this is the case, then I'd think twice. Otherwise, go for it!
-Mike
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In a truly free market...
[Read the article: Best. Bailout. Ever.]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In a truly free market, we'd have child labor, no public roads, no public schools, no social security, no medicare/medicaid, no police, no fire department, no internet, no workman's comp., no consumer safety regulations, no FDA, etc. No one really wants a truly free market, not even brightstar.
Government regulation is the only thing that keeps corporations from hurting people in their pursuit of profits. The problem with the mortgage market was a lack of regulation, not too much. Mortgage-backed securities should be illegal.
I abhor government bailouts of large corporations. I think they should have let Bear Sterns fold. However, I have to agree with Leonard that a bailout of FM is unavoidable. If they fail, its the little guy who will suffer. The accountants and lawyers in charge at FM will just retire to their country homes until it all blows over.
My main question is: Where is the accountability? Who will lose their jobs over this fiasco? Who will end up in jail? Who will get sued for the damages? The home mortgage industry has thrown the economy into a tailspin. Someone needs to pay.
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this would be funny but...
[Read the article: Rush Limbaugh was right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Like many of you reading this letter, I figured there was no way republicans could make war hero John Kerry's military record look bad. How wrong I was... So, forgive me for being horrified by this cover.
Also, doesn't some significant fraction of the population still think that Obama is or was a Muslim? Think that only cooky old men in Georgia believe that? Listen to this NPR story on "Latinas for McCain:" http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92426941 . I nearly threw up when I heard the women from this group talking about Obama. Is this really the country I live in?
I understand that this is satire, but I fear that most of its target audience wont get the joke.
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@Lindy from L.A.
[Read the article: Rush Limbaugh was right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just listen to the NPR story I gave the link for....
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Obama is shrewd
[Read the article: Life in the catbird seat for Obama ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Obama is a shrewd political animal. Don't think so? Listen to yesterday's episode of Fresh Air: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92470268
It is most certainly true that polls in July have little to do with who wins in November. To me, it seems like he is trying to position himself in the political center before the fall (when the general public starts paying attention). Remember, left wing democrats don't win presidential elections, those in the center do. America is never going to elect a left-wing ideologue (despite what that whiner Greenwald seems to think should happen). While I'd prefer such a candidate, I don't suffer any illusions about his or her electability. If Obama runs as a left-winger, we'll have at least 4 more years of a republican administration, more conservative supreme court justices, more wars of convenience, etc.
So far, I trust Obama to do what he needs to do to get himself elected.